Thrilled recently to be contacted by Robi Esialimba, who is interested in starting up an Awesome Foundation chapter in Nairobi! Him and his co-founder Weldon Kennedy are putting out an open call for trustees, so drop a line to Robi if you’re interested or know someone who might be someone great for them to team up with. Here’s their pitch for the new chapter: Nairobians for an Awesome Nairobi – Join the Awesome Foundation Nairobi Chapter Nairobi is a bustling, happening city, full of verve and a palpable mojo attracting Kenyans from upcountry and foreigners in equal measure to experience its offerings. With its swanky bars and restaurants, artsy events and concerts, hip and yuppie culture, it feels like it has a lot going for it. But Nairobi has a dark side to it too: widespread poverty, spiraling crime, squalid public spaces, dust and pollution and unforgettably the pain in the backside matatus! Some of us look forward longingly to the next election hoping that, maybe just maybe, the next county or national government will get its act together only for those hopes to be brutally dashed – again. Many of us feel jaded and have implicitly or explicitly decided to “accept and… read more →

Our community was saddened to hear of the recent passing of our friend Luciano Sother. Luciano was the founder and leader of the amazing Rio de Janeiro chapter, and a tremendous force for awesome in the universe through his many projects and interests. Many of us had the good fortune to meet Luciano during the AweSummit in Cambridge this past summer, which for the first time brought together trustees from around the world to celebrate and share our stories with one another. He was remembered by all who met him for his great sense of humor, his warm friendship, and his commitment to making a difference. We were tremendously lucky to have his presence there. Though the chapters of Awesome Foundation take on many forms around the world, we are united in a core belief: that one can find things that surprise and delight in all corners of life, and that it is important — critical, even — to support and share that delight with others. In our brief time together, Luciano stood out as a rare person who deeply embodied this spirit, and inspired it in others, too. We can’t have wished for a better partner and friend. We’ll… read more →

Whew! Been awhile since we posted up here. Tim Hwang reporting live from Awesome Foundation San Francisco. We’re thrilled to announce today that we’ve officially awarded September fellowships to not one, but two projects of a great deal of awesomeness. Both are performances, and both coming up in the next month or so. First, huge congratulations to Julie Crossman and her posse of Excellence for her project The Golden Hour, a brand-new branch of the wildly successful series of live late night talk shows Oakland Nights Live (and the obligatory Facebook page). The show will be held the third Saturday of every month in a venue to be determined in San Francisco — past performances have included skits, performances, interviews and Julie’s dad. So, we’re basically very much pumped for the whole thing – it’s looking like the first show will be sometime in mid-September. Our second award goes to Mike Lai and his proposal for a Sonic Kung Fu Battle. Which is…sort of tough to explain. But when you see the video, you’ll understand why we funded them. They’re planning on performing a substantially scaled up live version of their voice-powered sound effect street battle performance for the ZERO1 Biennial happening Sept 14-16th. Congratulations to… read more →

We’ve been quiet here at Awesome Foundation San Francisco for a little bit, but excited to say that we’re back this month with a duo of amazing projects that we’re thrilled to be a part of. One is a dance party, another is a game festival. Presenting… 1) The Balloon Powered Dance Party George, Will, and Issac are these three guys that we met recently who in their free time have been launching various items into the stratosphere using hundreds of helium balloons (see, e.g. a Christmas tree). They’ve teamed up with the good people over at the Million Fishes Art Collective in the Mission to do an installation that will fill their massive 22,000 cubic feet gallery floor to ceiling with balloons. We’re funding them to do as much. This alone would be probably awesome enough to warrant an Awesome Foundation grant, but the added twist is that they’ve been playing around with little radio receiver/speaker/LED units that will fit inside a few hundred of these balloons, allowing them to broadcast some bumpin’ tunes and shine a weirdo ethereal light through the morass of inflated elastic that people will be allowed to wander through. The results, we expect, will… read more →

Hello everyone! It’s official: the trustees of Awesome Foundation San Francisco are extremely proud this month to make an award to Erin Bregman of the Little Opera Company. Erin’s project is simple, but awesome. She works with children between 2nd and 5th grade at the West Portal Elementary School to write, produce, and perform complete operas. That’s singing and dancing. Since they come out of the collective minds of the kids that Erin works with, the topics of these operas are unbelievably intense: previous works have included operas about evil ponies on Mars, pirates, and Custer’s Last Stand (see video above). Naturally, we’re all about this, so AF-SF is helping to fund their upcoming production in March. We’ll post more details as they come together – but from what Erin tells us, the performance is set to include wild animals, magical moons, and spooky forests, so it pretty much is going to be awesome. Also: they’re looking for people to lend a hand! If you know of a small performance space that might be a good place for it – be sure to drop us a line at contact@awesomefoundation.org. Also, if you’re interested in donating to these efforts, the Little… read more →